They say it's a welcome change from their two summer deployments in Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad that has seen many attacks on American troops. Two of their fellow soldiers were killed there May 27.

Eagle Troop's 150 soldiers, part of the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, now will be monitoring a 215-mile stretch of the border with Saudi Arabia to stop foreigners from slipping into Iraq to join guerrillas attacking U.S. forces.

The troop's new home is an abandoned Iraqi air force base that appears to have been stripped clean by looters after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April. The U.S. Army would not allow the base to be identified.

The relative comforts of life in an established American military camp are missing. Power from mobile generators is limited, leaving the soldiers to eat in near darkness, but running water and telephone and Internet connections are planned.

When the soldiers first arrived from the regiment's base 185 miles to the north, most of them slept atop their Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees. Some put up camp beds next to the vehicles to shelter against the biting cold of the nighttime desert.

To help pass their free time, soldiers have filled empty water bottles with sand and use them for weights in an improvised gym.

Eagle Troop has lost three men since it deployed in Iraq in late April, said its commander, Capt. David Palazzo of Charlotte, N.C.

The new base is being named after one of the two killed in Fallujah - Staff Sgt. Michael Quinn of Tampa, Fla.